Cross wing airplane construction



July 9, 1946.

w. F. CARLSON 2,403,499

CROSS WING AIRPLANE CONSTRUCTION Filed April 4, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet l w kg M7729 F Car/Son,

W. F. CARLSON Cxoss WING; AIRPLANE CONSTRUCTION July 9, 1946.

Filed April 4, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 M79187; [id/"2507a,

W E Attorneys y 1945- w. CARLSON WING AIRPLANE CONSTRUCTION Filed April 4, 1944 s Sheets-sheet 3 Patented July 9, 1946 UNITED T STATES PATENT- OFFICE a 2,403,499 i I CROSS WINGIAIIIRPLANEICONSTRUCTION v Warren F. Carlson; New Windsor, Ill. Application April 4, 1944. Serial No. 529,475

My invention relates to airplanes provided with crossed Wings both for small and large aircraft. In order to distinguish my design of airplane from monoplanes as well as from bi-planes, it might be named triple plane since three wings are provided on each side of the fuselage.

The construction is applicable tosingle fuselage as Well as. twin fuselage airplanes. In the former case there are three wings on each side of the fuselage, of which the front and rear slant upwardly outwards and the middle one slants downwards; while in the twin fuselage construction there are preferably two upward slanting wings and two downward slanting wings situated between the two fuselages, but the outside wings are the same as with the single fuselage.

As an advantage of this construction may be mentioned the considerable reduction in material and weight, and increase in strength over the conventional wings. gained by the cradle formation of the upward slanting, front and wings, which make stabilizers and ailerons unneccessary.

Another advantage of this construction is the provision of a small steadying wheel at the extreme outer bottom edge of each down slanting wing, which is situated at about the middle cross line of the plane, while a larger front wheel and a small trailing wheel make up th complete landing gear. 7

With a straight descent this will make a twopoint landing instead of the regular three-point landing, the two side wheels providing steadying members for balancing after the airplane comes to rest.

Other advantages and objects of the invention will appear from the subjoined description and accompanying drawings, in which- Figur 1 shows a top plan view of a single fuselage airplane having three pairs of wings.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1 with the plane on the ground.

Figure 3 is a front end elevation of the single fuselage plane Figure 4 is a top plan view of a twin fuselage airplane; and

Figure 5 is a front end elevation of Figure 4.

In the drawings like reference characters denote the same parts.

Referring first to Figures 1, 2 and 3 the fuselage is denoted by numeral l and may be of any suitable construction, but is preferably, as seen in the figures, of square shaped cross section and tapering at both ends. By this construction is gained a reduced landing speed,- requiring more Steadying of the plane is Claims. (01. 244-45) pitch for landing. At H is shown a glass covered roof overthe. pilots pit and the usual rudder l2 and elevatorslS are at the tail end.

Midway between the ends are shown thetriple wings consistingof apairof upwardly slanting front'wings l5 securedat the lowerpart of the fuselage side as at. [6; a pair of similarly positioned rear wings l1; and a pair of downwardly slanting middle wings I8 secured to the top portion of the fuselage at H) and filling the space between the front andrear Wings I5, l1.

At the points of crossing the front, middle and rear wings are united by a half tubular bar or beam 20, which fits the upper surfaces of the wings l5, l1 and I8, running the entire combined width, front and rear of .the wings, this in order to. stiffen the construction. In this manner a cradle is formed for the fuselage by means of the upwardly directed four wing sections l5 and I! which eliminates stabilizers and ailerons.

The landing gear in this case consists of four wheels, instead of the usual three, which however actually provides a two-point landing instead of the usual three-point landing. It consists of a large front wheel 22 on an elastic mounting well forward under the fuselage and a smaller trailer wheel 23 similarly mounted under therear end of the fuselage ill. -As these two wheels do not provide any transverse support for loading and balancing the airplane on the ground, a pair of small auxiliary wheels 24, are'mounted at the bottom edge of each middle wing section I8, see Figures 2 and 3. As best seen in Figure 3, the air plane balances on the front and rear landing wheels 22 and 23. Should however the plane tilt over to one side or the other, one of the auxiliary wheels 24 comes into action to support the plane on that side. Figure 3 shows clearly that the auxiliary landing wheels 24 are placed at a higher level from the ground than the main landing gear wheels 22 and 23,- so that all four wheels could not touch the ground at the same time unless the plane happens to land upon very uneven ground.

At the nose of the airplane a propeller 26 is indicated, which is actuated by an engine located close by in the fuselage l0, and controlled by the pilot, as is also the steering gear I2, I 3.

The needed gas and lubricating oil are stored within the wings in convenient position for the engine.

The above description relates to airplanes for light loads shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. This wing arrangement provides however for greater load per square foot with its much smaller wing spread than with conventionally built planes.

Referring now to the modification shown in Figures 4 and 5, this relates to airplanes intended for heavier loads and is here presented as a. twinfuselage airplane. The main structure is however the same as that of a single fuselage plane in Figures 1 to 3.

The contour of each of the two fuselages 30, 3! is the same as-inFigure 2, but the size may vary. The outer wings l5 and I1 are identical, so are the landing gears 22, 23 and 24 with tubular bar 20, as well as propeller 26, one for each fuselage, and the steering gears I2, IS.

The difference consists of the connection means between the two fuselages, which however is also similar to the outer wings. upwardly slanting wing sections Here is provided two 32 from left to right, Figure 5, secured at the bottom as at 33 to the left fuselage 30 and alternating with similarly upwardly slanting wing sections 34 from right to left and secured as at 3'5 at the bottom of the right-hand fuselage 3|. At their outer ends the wing sections 34 are secured at the top of the left fuselage 30 as at 36, while the other wing sections 32 are secured as at 31 at the top of the right hand fuselagev 3 l In this manner theright and left fuselages 30, 3i have a semi-flexible connection between them. 7

It should be noted that in this twin construction the small central or auxiliary wheels 24 are unnecessary for the landing gear. Accordingly, in a normal landing a four point landing would occur on the two'pairs of fore and aft wheels 22, 23, and the aircraft would remain upright resting on those four wheels after landing.

In some cases it may be advantageous to place cross or X-wings overhead or below the fuselage of ordinary biplane. This would still further increase its capacity. There is hardly a limit to the size of the airplane and this. design, therefore, might bethe answer to the large airplane question of the future.

It is to be understood that the invention as here disclosed is not limited to the details here described and shown but that the same maybe varied widely without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the subjoined claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is: I

1. In an airplane having a fuselage with the usual propelling and steering device; in combination a plurality of sustaining surfaces along the sides of the fuselage, consisting of pairs of flat wing sections arranged successively in upwardly and downwardly alternating slanting directions from the sides of the fuselage and said wing sections having fixed securing means, respectively, at the top and bottom of the fuselage, two adjacent pairs of wing sections making an X-forrnation and fixtures at the points of intersection of suchadjacent pairs of wing sections.

2. In anairpl'ane having a fuselage with the usual propelling and steering devices; in combination a plurality of sustaining surfaces along the sides of the fuselage, consisting of pairs of flat wing sections arranged successively in upwardly and downwardly alternating slanting directions from the sides of the fuselage and said wing sections having fixed securing means, respectively, at the top and bottom of the fuselage, two adjacent pairs of wing sections making an X-formation and fixtures consisting of half tubular bar's atthe point of intersection of such ad- J'acent pairs of wing sections, positioned about midway between the side edges of the wing sections.

3. In an airplane having a fuselage with the usual propelling and steering device; in combination a plurality of sustaining surfaces along the sides of the fuselage, consisting of pairs of flat Wing sections arranged successively in upwardly and downwardly alternating slanting directions from the sides of the fuselage and said wing sections having fixed securing means, respectively, at the top and bottom of the fuselage, two adjacent pairs of wing sections making an X-formation and fixtures at the points of intersection of such adjacent, pairs of wing sections, and fore and aft ground contacting two-point landing gear in the middle plane of the underside of the fuselage, and a tilting support at the extreme outer points of the downwardly slanting wing section.

4. In an airplane having a pair of fuselages side by side with a space provided between them each having propelling and steering devices; in combination a plurality of sustaining surfaces along the outer sides of each fuselage, consisting of pairs of flat wing sections arranged successively in upwardly and downwardly alternating slanting directions from the sides of the fuselage and said wing sections having fixed securing means, respectively, at the top andbottom of each fuselage, two adjacent pairs of wing sections making an X-formation and fixtures at the points of intersection of suchadjacent pairs of wing sections, and interconnecting bearing means between said fuselages consisting of similarly slanting, flat wing sections.

5 In an airplane having a pair of fuselages side by side with a space provided between them each having propelling and steering devices; in combination a plurality of sustaining surfaces along the outer sides of each fuselage, consisting of pairs of flat wing sections arranged successively in upwardly and downwardly alternating slanting directions from the sides of the fuselage and said wing sections having fixed securing means, respectively, at the top and bottom of each fuselage, two adjacent pairs of wing sections making an X-formation and fixtures at the points of intersection of such adjacent pairs of wing sections, interconnecting bearing means between said fuselag'es consisting of similarly slanting, flat wing sections, and a fore and aft ground contacting two-point landing gear for each fuselage in the middle plane of the underside thereof.

WARREN F. CARLSON. 

